The Atlanta Braves were one of the few teams to actually get something done at this year's Winter Meetings when they swung a trade with Seattle to land Jarred Kelenic. While most outside observers would have bet that Atlanta would have made noise on the starting pitching market first, Alex Anthopoulos saw an opportunity to make an upgrade in left and managed to get a high upside guy in Kelenic who was one of the top prospects in all of baseball very, very recently.
Overall, the Braves have yet again managed to get a lot of work done early in the offseason. Between signing Reynaldo Lopez and bringing back multiple bullpen arms in addition to making a few trades, the Braves' bullpen and lineup is in a great spot. If you are feeling particularly optimistic, Lopez is going to get the chance to stretch out and try his hand at starting again which would be a nice boost to the rotation assuming that works out.
However, the Braves still have some work to do this offseason especially if they want try and make a deep run in the playoffs.
Here are 3 moves the Braves need to make now that the Winter Meetings are over
As much fun as it would be for Reynaldo to turn from an excellent reliever signed at a pretty fair market rate into an absolute steal if he can become a quality starting pitcher, Atlanta can't bank on that happening. The rest of this offseason has to be centered around getting the starting rotation in a good spot in the short-term and long-term especially with a Max Fried extension beyond this season looking less likely by the day.
With that in mind, here are the moves the Braves need to make now that the Winter Meetings are finally over and things are set to heat up in the coming days and weeks.